DOOM: The Dark Ages levels up with Path Tracing and DLSS Ray Reconstruction

id Software's DOOM: The Dark Ages, the third game and prequel entry in the modern DOOM re-imagining for the studio, is available now for PC and consoles. Running on id Tech 8, the ray-tracing-only game has already shipped with ray-traced global illumination and RT powered gameplay mechanics like hit detection as standard for its impressive visuals and first-person action.

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In June, the game will receive an update on PC that will enable Path Tracing or Full Ray Tracing with support for DLSS 4's new AI-enhanced Ray Reconstruction, dramatically improving the game's visual fidelity. As seen in the screenshots provided by NVIDIA for Computex 2025, the Path-Traced version of DOOM: The Dark Ages looks phenomenal, with better reflections and more realistic lighting.

Ray Reconstruction has been a game changer for games with Full Ray Tracing, and on GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs, DLSS 4 Super Resolution and Multi Frame Generation will deliver triple-digit performance. Check out the comparison shots of DOOM: The Dark Ages with Path Tracing enabled below.

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It's worth highlighting that these screenshots are not your usual RTX Off versus RTX On comparisons, as there's no way to run DOOM: The Dark Ages with ray-tracing turned off. The non-Path Tracing screenshots still look fantastic, as they're captured with the game running with current Ultra equivalent settings that include ray-traced effects like ray-traced global illumination.

Here's the first comparison. With Path Tracing, you can see the dramatic effect that the fire has on the environment. It's now reflected on the wooden structures, the reflections look more detailed, and even textures, materials, and shadows are more realistic.

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The second comparison below shows how DLSS 4's Ray Reconstruction improves the path-traced visuals with more detailed reflections, making everything look crisper and sharper.

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Path Tracing is, in a way, a look at the future of in-game visuals and requires powerful GeForce RTX hardware to run as it's designed for technologies like DLSS 4 Super Resolution, Ray Reconstruction, Frame Generation, and the new Multi Frame Generation that is exclusive to the GeForce RTX 50 Series. Based on what we've seen with the GeForce RTX 50 Series, you'd probably want something like the GeForce RTX 5070 for a smooth Path Traced experience, or an RTX 5080 or RTX 5090 for that full 4K experience.